The common pool of fishermen who stayed out of sectors, the voluntary cooperatives that will work under a catch share system, will be severely constrained under limitations approved this week by an advisory committee of the New England Fishery Management Council.
Industry officials described the action as condemning the common pool to oblivion.
Many fishermen objected fiercely to the sequence of events, with the proposal to tighten regulation of the common pool coming from Kurkul days after the deadline passed for signing on to one of the 17 sectors organized to work under the catch share system. The catch share regulatory format, slated to take effect May 1, has long been in the works by the New England council, but was finally approved in June at the urging of federal fisheries chief administrator Jane Lubchenco.